More details on the eight-state plan to promote the sale of more electric cars have been released. The goal is to have sold more than 3 million electric cars by 2025 in the US.

Gerry Broome/AP/File

Public electric vehicle charging stations in Chapel Hill, N.C. More details on a plan to promote the sale of more electric cars in eight states have been released.

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May 31, 2014

By Stephen EdelsteinGuest blogger

Last October, eight states announced plans to promote the sale of more than 3 million electric cars by 2025, a massive leap from the 200,000 or so currently on US roads.

Now, more details of how that gargantuan task will be accomplished have emerged.

The program – which also encompasses hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles – will involve a mix of charging and refueling station construction, expansion of incentives, and regulatory changes to encourage the sale of more zero-emission vehicles, Automotive News reports.

The states will fund construction of more electric-car charging stations and hydrogen refueling stations, although so far only California has set money aside for the latter.

In addition, the coalition plans to streamline building codes and liability-insurance regulations to make it easier for new buildings to incorporate charging stations.

The plan also calls for uniform signage to indicate charging and refueling stations, as well as a uniform payment system for public charging stations.

This could make drivers' lives easier by eliminating the need to carry multiple cards and fobs for different charging station networks.

Finally, the states declared their continued commitment to monetary incentives--such as tax credits and purchase rebates--and non-monetary ones like single-occupant carpool-lane access and preferential parking for zero-emission vehicles.

Nearly all of these measures were discussed at preliminary talks late last year, but now it appears the states have committed to them.

They're known as the 'Clean Car States,' because they all followed California's lead in adopting stricter emissions standards.

Their cumulative goal of 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on their roads by 2025 represents a new effort toward emissions reduction; the eight states currently account for about one-quarter of total US new-car sales.